On the day students returned to class in the Burlington School District, teachers serving as coaches also returned to their teams.

Following a 1-0 loss to CVU during the teachers’ strike, BHS boy’s soccer defeated Essex 2-0 with head coach Fran Demasi back at the helm.  Bienfait Badibanga set up broth Heritier Badibanga to secure each goal.

On the next field over, Burlington head football coach Brennan Carney was back with his team.  He explained that missing his players’ third win in as many weeks was the most difficult part of the teachers’ strike.

“I was standing in my kitchen, literally living every moment through text, it was not the way I really wanted to be doing it.  So I’m really much happier.  I’ve had a lot of great support from parents and a lot of great support from the community, so it’s great to be back.”

BHS boy’s soccer (5-1) visits crosstown rival Rice Memorial Tuesday at 4:30 while the football team (3-0) will visit Brattleboro Saturday at 3:00.